Off-Topic: The Euro Confusion

In 1999 a new currency was introduced, the Euro. Actually, it was introduced in two stages, as a virtual currency for online transactions only on 1st January 1999, and as a real currency when Euro banknotes and coins were distributed on 1st January 2002. In this article I don't want to discuss the currency itself, but the symbol used to represent it, as shown above.

The Euro symbol was first made public on 12th December 1996, after the European Commission held secret sessions to pick from a selection of 30 designs. The 29 rejected designs were kept secret to avoid public discussion about the symbol after its release. I can't help admitting that I'm curious. Someone somewhere must have a list that's been lying in his desk for the last 30 years.

The symbol is supposedly a letter E with two horizontal bars. I don't see the resemblance to an E. It looks much more like a capital C. Maybe there's a slight resemblance to a small E, but even so it looks more like a capital C.

At first it was requested that the symbol should be used exactly as shown above, but typeface designers protested. Their argument was that all other currency symbols, such as the American dollar and the British pound, vary from one typeface to another in order to retain the typeface's style. The European Commission was sensible enough to allow artistic renderings of the Euro symbol.

Here are examples of the Euro symbol in five common fonts. Note that the C in the Euro symbol has been squashed in every case except for Courier New, a monospace font.

Since I moved to Germany I've been confused to see the Euro currency symbol written both before and after the number, either €25.99 or 25.99 €. Today I finally checked which one is correct. Germany's official writing guidelines, DIN 5008, is clear on the subject. The Euro symbol has to be written after the number with a separating space. The only exception is that banks and financial institutions are allowed to put the symbol before numbers. Anyone who puts it before the number in other contexts is wrong.

What about the other European countries? Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands and Cyprus put the symbol before the number, all others put it after the number. So much for European unity! But there's one more rule that makes it even more confusing. Any document written in English, such as a tourism brochure or a restaurant menu at an airport, must place the Euro symbol before numbers regardless of national rules.

This is a mess. Is it too late for the European Commission to send a letter to all the European Union's member states, telling them to do it one way only?